hey, i'm back! thanks to those of you who displayed patience!!

i tried to make this really cute. i hope it actually was. it's on the longer side for the length of my chapters. hope you like it!

LasT tIMe:

Rachel sets Hazel and Frank up on a date.

ThiS tIMe:

Hazel and Frank go on said date.

(i've pretty much ditched my old writing style of writing in first person, so i hope you guys don't mind. it's good to be back!)

~

Frank was pretty sure he had never been so nervous in his life.

He hadn't explained much to Hazel about his plans. The restaurant, the park, the light show. Not hard to remember, but he was certain he'd forget. He was forgetful. If he forgot, he'd get fidgety and scared just trying to remember what was going to happen. All of his ADHD friends insisted that this was a sign of him having ADHD as well, but he's been tested multiple times. All he's got is his stupid lactose intolerance.

His dad obviously didn't notice anything about Frank's date (is this a date? What would you call this? A hangout? A date?), but Clarisse took notice quickly. When Frank moved in with Clarisse, Sherman, and their dad as an eight year old, Frank was pretty freakin' scared of her. To be fair, who wouldn't be? She was Clarisse, the girl nobody to this day will even challenge to a thumb wrestle since the Thumb-Wrestling Incident of 2011. But he and Clarisse, against all odds, actually get along. Sherman isn't all that bad either. The two had actually helped him get ready tonight.

"Hazel's gonna like the sappiest thing you can think of," Clarisse assured Frank. "She's a real hopeless romantic. So...be romantic."

Frank's eyes widened slightly. "How do I do that?" he squeaked.

Sherman snorted. "Dude, you just be."

"What does that even mean?"

"Yeah, Sherman, you're not helping him at all."

"Says you!" Sherman accused Clarisse. "'Little Miss I'm-So-In-Love-With-Photographer-Boy-But-Has-Never-Been-On-A-Date' giving advice. How does that make sense?"

"You've never been on a date either, Beefbrains."

"Actually, yes I have, with Miranda Gardiner in 6th grade."

"That does not count!"

"Still more experience than you!"

Frank rolled his eyes and grabbed his phone. "I gotta go. I'm picking her up in, like, ten minutes."

Clarisse and Sherman stopped arguing and looked at him curiously. "You're leaving like that?" Sherman asked. "Where are you going?"

Frank was hoping to take Hazel to the New York Animal Preserve where he worked a small part time job for about $14.50 an hour, but due to some technical difficulties, his boss wouldn't let him. Hazel loved animals and went there to visit a lot, so he thought it'd be a special thing for them. That was alright, though. Did the conversation he had with his boss about having a date at his work haunt him day and night since? Yeah. But it's fine, he swears.

"Uh, to Treetops, and then to that light show that's gonna happen at the park," Frank answered hesitantly.

Clarisse's angry sneer from the argument before faded into a smirk. "There you go, buddy! You do know how to be romantic!"

Frank rubbed his neck and his his flushed face. "I guess."

Now he was doing just about the same thing. Except now, he was at Hazel's door as a million thoughts sprung legs and ran around his brain like a marathon. What if she changed her mind? What if she doesn't like the restaurant or the light show? What if she gets bored of me? What if someone else answers the door, like her dad? OH MY GOD, WHAT IF NICO OPENS THE DOOR?

While lost in his thoughts, Frank must've rang the doorbell, because the door opened to show a sickly pale, small, and familiar figure. Of course Nico had to open the door. "H-hi Nico, um, is-?"

"Dude, chill out, don't act like I'm gonna kill you or something," Nico insisted. He turned his head to look inside his house. "Hazel!" Turning back to Frank, he continued. "We're friends, Frank, but if you hurt her, I swear to-"

"Nico, please don't threaten him! You know full well he won't be hurting me at all."

The boys turned to notice Hazel coming down the stairs in full date attire. She had a black V-necked long-sleeve shirt on with wide sleeves that fell down her wrists and hit the end of her palms. Her high-waisted beige shorts and black leggings tied the beige boots into the rest of the outfit. To top it off, she wore a simple black choker around her neck. Dressy-casual, just like Frank had said.

It all looked so effortless. Like she didn't have to try. Her hair curled perfectly as it always did, but more so than usual at the same time, and her makeup was light but definitely there, and if Frank hadn't been staring at her, he would've even noticed.

He noticed soon enough that he was staring and snapped his mouth closed. "I - um, h-hi, Hazel, um...you uh, you look amazing! I - uh, sorry, um, you wanna just, uh, go? Now? You look great, um, by the way, I probably already said that, sorry."

Hazel giggled. "Frank, you look awesome too. Calm down, it's okay. It's just me." She grabbed her coat off of the coat rack on the wall opposite of the door. Slipping it on, she kissed Nico on the cheek and gave him a quick shoulder hug. "I'll be back by 11, Nico, love you!"

She stepped outside, closing the door behind her. "Ready to go?" she asked Frank. The smile that she gave him warmed his heart so much that he thought it might melt. His face, copying hers, warmed up when he let himself reciprocate. 

"Yeah, I think I am."

...

"That waiter was all over you!" he insisted, laughing loudly.

Hazel snorted. "Are you kidding? That girl at the table across from us was giving you bedroom eyes the whole time!"

They were the loudest noise on the empty street. Nobody really drove down this path anymore after the Baskin Robins closed, because the street didn't even really lead anywhere else. Frank kinda missed that Baskin Robins. One of the ladies that worked there was Clarisse's mom, and she was a lot nicer than someone would've expected. Now she worked at Dunkin' Donuts with Sherman's mom's boyfriend. It was too awkward to go there and see her anymore.

It hadn't snowed that night. It had come to the point where it was nice enough outside for football to resume and for people to go on walks, but every now and then, it would still snow. In fact, there were remains of the last snow all around Frank and Hazel.

"What did the waiter even say to me that made you think that?" Hazel laughed.

"I dunno, maybe that whole thing with him putting our food down and then touching your hand?! I'd say that he was flirting with you!"

"How do you know that wasn't an accident?" she teased him.

"Your hand was nowhere near the food! It was very purposeful."

"How do you remember that? Don't you have a forgetfulness thing?" Hazel giggled.

"I remember dumb details like that. I forget useful things." He was also trying to work up the nerve to hold her hand, but it was too far away for it to happen without being awkward.

The park was approaching. Frank cleared his throat at the sight. "Uh, that's our final stop."

Hazel turned her head. She smiled. "The light show?" she said gently. "Frank, that's so sweet. I love the light shows."

"I, uh, I know," he admitted. "I mean, not 'cause I'm like, a creep or anything, but 'cause, like, Katie told me. I asked. She told me you liked them. Yeah."

She beamed up at him. Her golden and amber eyes seemed to twirl with excitement with the moon's beams hitting them directly. "C'mon, I know just where to sit!" And as if someone had hit slow motion on Earth's time, she grabbed his hand and led him to the park. 

A fresh spot of grass by a looming tree was the destination. When they sat down, it really gave a perfect view of the sky, with the leaves canopying over their heads but not covering their view. 

"This tree is where I sit every time I come to a light show," Hazel explained. "Nobody ever sits here 'cause it looks like you wouldn't be able to see anything from underneath it, but you actually get a great view. See that big branch? Me and Katie sit there when we come together. And that branch? That's where I sit when I come with Rachel. When I come alone, I sit at the very top of the tree, because there's this dented area that's small enough just for me. But I've never sat with anyone at the bottom of the tree. This can be our spot."

Frank blushed. He silently thanked God for it being dark, because everyone at the park would've seen his tomato of a face. As he gazed down on the girl he found so gorgeous, she pointed up. "Look!"

The lanterns had been released into the sky. They danced around happily and warmly as they excited the viewers. The audience clapped and snapped photos with their phones, not even needing to use their flash.

Frank thought about the times he and Hazel spent together. Like when they ran into Octavian, Olivia, and Oscar, and she told them off so much that Frank realized that he had fallen in love with her. Or over winter break at Piper's cabin, when they had stayed up late on the snow-in day eating Twizzlers and playing Uno. He liked being with her. He liked this tree, he liked this park, he even liked that dumb street that nobody uses anymore.

He liked her.

"Isn't it gorgeous?" Hazel gushed.

Frank nodded. "Yeah, oh my gosh."

He decided that he liked lanterns a lot. They dance around joyously just like there's no care in the world. They're bright and happy, and they smile back at you. They know how to make you feel better on a rainy day. There's no possible way not to love them, not to adore them in every way, not to love them for what they are. Everything about them was gorgeous in more ways than one. Not just on the outside, but in everything they do. They were amazing. He loved lanterns a lot.

Hazel's head gracefully tucked itself into Frank's shoulder as she curled up into him. "This is nice," she said.

Frank smiled at his lantern. "Yeah, it is."